Asian Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the growth response of rice to crop establishment methods under rice-based cropping patterns at the agronomy research block of BUAT Banda, Uttar Pradesh during Kharif and Rabi seasons of two consecutive years 2023-24 and 2024-25. The experiment was carried out in a split plot design with two main plots in which Puddled Transplanted Rice-Conventional Tillage (PTR-CT) and Direct Seeded Rice -Zero Tillage (DSR-ZT) were tested and six cropping patterns (C₁: Rice-wheat, C₂: Rice- barley, C₃: Rice-mustard, C₄: Rice-Linseed, C₅: Rice- Chickpea and C₆: Rice-Lentil) in sub plots were tested. All 12 treatment combinations were replicated thrice. Soil of the experimental site was ‘clay loam’ in texture and rated as low in available N (225 kg/ha), medium in P (16.51 kg/ha) and medium near to high in K (275 kg/ha). The findings revealed that maximum height of rice was recorded with DSR- ZT (113 cm and 110 cm during 2023 and 2024, respectively as compared to PTR-CT (108 cm and 106 cm) while in case of cropping systems, taller plants were observed in rice-chickpea and rice- lentil system over cereal- oilseed and cereals- cereals based systems. The maximum dry weight was recorded under PTR-CT (923 and 909g during 2023 and 2024, respectively) over DSR, but at initial stage it was higher in DSR-ZT. Among cropping systems, the dry weight at all stages was reported higher in rice-chickpea and rice- lentil system over cereal- oilseed and cereals- cereals based systems during kharif 2024. The LAI was recorded significantly higher with PTR-CT (4.49 and 4.40 during 2023 and 2024, respectively) over DSR-ZT while in case of cropping patterns it was greater in rice-chickpea and rice- lentil pattern over cereal- oilseed and cereals- cereals based systems.